We aim to represent
all of Western Law’s student
and produce positive change.

The 2017 SLS is committed to reforming the way student government operates.
We are doing this by embracing three pillars of change.

Removing Arbitrariness

Our goal is to improve decision-making at Western Law’s SLS. To do so, we have committed to removing arbitrariness from our decision-making, and increasing transparency and accountability to the student body.

Reducing Inefficiencies

We want to show our commitment to the student body by reducing inefficiencies in our event and budget decisions, thereby ensuring that we optimize the SLS’s resources.

Improving Experiences

The SLS is focused on providing Western Law students with the best experience while at Western Law. We aim to do this by providing more diverse and improved events throughout the year.

We have been hard at working meeting our goals.

Accomplishments Already Achieved

Our first two objectives—removing arbitrariness and reducing inefficiencies—have been largely accomplished. While work still remains to be done, we are proud to announce that since our current team was ratified in March 2017, we have amended our Fiscal Policy By-law to:

Include better oversight of organizations with large budgets;

Require decisions be made in accordance with our Committee Consideration Guidelines; and

Create clear rules for assigning budgets to new and existing organizations.

Concrete Improvements We Are Making

Auditing our policy documents with the goal of amending and updating our Constitution and by-laws as necessary. The Fiscal Policy By-law is being amended to increase clarity. Our Selections by-law is being reviewed to determine how we can ensure fairness and timeliness in the selection of new Chairs across all SLS Organizations. These changes are being led by our recently formed Drafting Sub-Committee.

Updating our Elections by-law to address conflicts with the Exchange programs as well as to promote gender parity. Various SLS-affiliated organizations have been included in our efforts to update the Equality By-law to create a more meaningful impact on the SLS’s core functions.

Anonymizing applications to reduce bias and adding a formal statement to our meeting minutes that provides reasons for Committee decisions with respect to a specific application.

Moving applications online to reduce inefficiencies in receiving and deciding on applications and proposals. This allows each and every SLS Committee member to have constant and up-to-date information on applications, minutes, policy documents, and more. This has further allowed us to move our forms online, minimizing the risk of lost applications, and reducing the workload of our Executive Team. The results have been noticeable, and we have more time than ever to discuss the broader challenges and opportunities of our peers.

Creating a website—this website—to make our work more transparent and to increase your ability to access SLS materials.

Designing a governance manual for internal use by present and future SLS Committees to address continuity difficulties that SLS has faced in the past, and ensure that progress made by one year is not lost in the transition to a new Committee.

Our Promise to You

As the sun sets on the age of traditional SLS inefficiency, we have more time to dedicate to improving your experience. Current initiatives in this regard include a focus on accessibility around the law building, enhancing student led initiatives on careers, ensuring that Western Law’s administrative decisions are made in the best interest of students.